Police Commissioner Responds To Weekend Violence

City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts addresses the news media regarding the violence in East Baltimore.

City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said Monday the recent spike in violence in Baltimore is 'dramatically high' and planned to respond with a number of agencies.

"Unfortunately when we have spikes, those spikes usually come in five or six," he said. "We will respond."

Batts said he's already been in the contact with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the F.B.I., and the D.E.A. He said they'll get additional help from the Baltimore City Sheriff's

However, he said overall in the past 45-60 days, crime is down.

"We need to stay on top of violent repeat offenders," he said. "We are picking our targets and we know where they are and we're in the process of following up on them."

Batts held the news conference in the 7-hundred block of North Kenwood Avenue, the scene where 5 people were shot, one fatally early Saturday morning. He alone the street with a team of officers talking with people about crime in the neighborhood.

"Pedro, it was nice meeting you," he said to a man sitting on a stoop.

In walking, he met with Joanna Harvell, who's daughter-in-law 18-year-old Donyae Jones was killed in the block early Saturday morning. Jones was shot and killed when a man began shooting into the crowd. 4 others were injured in the shooting.

"It's kinda hard," she said. "I'm scared to sleep at night. I just want to move."

Police said they have leads in the shooting.

Speaking by phone to WBAL's John Patti on Maryland's News Now from Las Vegas while attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake continued to press for legislation to combat illegal guns.

"It's something that mayor's can't do on their own," she said.

Rawlings-Blake said in 2012, police took more than 1,000 illegal guns off the streets of Baltimore.

"We have one gun store in the city," she said. "We know they are coming from within our borders."

Batts said he's also getting additional help from the Sheriff's Office and Maryland State Police.

Councilman Carl Stokes said he was upset that the police department said people should expect spikes in crime.

"No other city does that," he said. "I think it's astounding that the police department would give that as an official response."